Happiest Place on Earth - the Dog Beach!

Last week, while we were in Florida, we took our little dog, Izzy, to a dog beach. It's on the gulf coast near Fort Myers. It wasn't the easiest place to find and once we got there all we saw were some cars - no people, no dogs. We found some signs giving us directions about doggie doo, so we knew we were in the right place. We walked out to the beach and looked to the right and saw a sand bar with about 20 dogs and lots of humans.

(Click on photos to see a larger size.)

We left Izzy on her leash at first, unsure if she'd feel safe with all the other dogs. In no time she was wanting to run around with the other dogs, so we took her leash off. We were still a bit nervous about the big dogs running up to her, but she just had a great time sniffing and running around.

We ended up spending about an hour watching Izzy interact with the other dogs. We were wondering if she'd go into the water and at first she had no interest in getting her feet wet. But then her desire to play with doggies on another sand bar got to be too much and in she went!

Here's a quick movie of Izzy running through the water. She was having so much fun!

(Click on the video to see regular size on youtube.com)

And then she met a couple of dachshunds. Watching her run around with those two little dogs really made me realize how much doxie she has in her!

The rest of the pictures are just a few more pictures I wanted to share with you. The day was cloudy and a bit chilly but then sun really wanted to come out.

 

We tried to leave a couple of times but she'd go running back to play with a group of dogs. Finally she started to walk with us and she seemed okay with leaving.

Needless to say, when we got home little Izzy got a quick bath and I think she slept really great that night. No doubt she dreamed of running up and down that beach with all those new friends.

A bad sign in Florida

While in Florida last week I went running a few times. I encountered the most curious thing while running - my feet were crunching things while I was running on the sidewalks.

 

Do you know what kind of tree that is? I've seen them all over the area where my mom lives but just assumed it was some Florida-ish tree. And then I noticed what I was stepping on...

Can you see them? I'll blow the picture up a bit...

 

Acorns!! I had NO idea those trees were oak trees! I've been visiting my mom in Florida for 12 years and I don't remember ever seeing an acorn. This year they're everywhere!

 

So why is this so undesirable in Florida? Because when the oak trees in Florida drop this many acorns, it means they're in for a pretty cold winter. (Gotta fatten up the little critters and get an extra layer of warmth on them.)

And so far those trees have done a great job at predicting the weather. Florida has had colder than usual temperatures for the last few weeks - and winter has just begun. Of course this means that the rest of the south can expect cold weather. (Maybe Ohio too? We've had colder than usual temps too.) 

I'm starting to begin to understand how the Farmer's Almanac can predict weather for an entire winter. Crunching on acorns means don't expect to get a tan while you're vacationing in Florida this winter!